Monday, January 31, 2011

Khaleef’s Sports Day : Go Team Green!

a proud moment for any parents – their kids’ first ever sports day! we woke up early morning, dressed khaleef up in GREEN, and his brothers too. go green team!

 

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yes,  believe it this was the BEST shot we could get on that day. kahfi was still in *playful-i-want-to-run-across-the-field* mode, while kazim was very attracted to khaleef mickey mouse cap! credit to my sis-in-law teh for this rare family shot

 

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 don’t be deceived by khaleef’s apparent stance of standing very straight. this was the ONLY time he was standing straight. other times he’d be jumping and making silly movements – basically being a hyper little clown!

 

as usual, there are four teams; green, yellow, blue and red. khaleef is in the green team! go go green team!

when i was in primary school, i was in green team too! korang? how about secondary school? i was in methodist school, and the sports teams are called nightingale (yellow), victoria (green), cavel (red), and crosby (blue) – these are all names of famous women who has contributed greatly to humanity. i was in the yellow team.

mr. khairul was in red house. the sport houses are named sulaiman (red), idris (white), ahmad (black), and mohammad shah (yellow) in his school malay college kuala kangsar. my abah was in sulaiman house too. red. tak geng lah with me and khaleef! hihi.

 

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games played :

  1. stacking up big lego blocks
  2. put water in pail using a cup
  3. throw little bean pouch into basket
  4. walk with ping pong ball in spoon

man, i think even i played these games when i was in kindergarten! they’re as old as time! haha. can’t they invent new games? however, i have no real complaints – these games are still as fun as they were back then when i played them!

bawak bola ping pong dalam sudu pun jadilah! hihi.

 

 

how khaleef fared in each game :

  1. stacking up big lego blocks ~ khaleef was the one who didn’t put the lego block properly! haha. he caused the whole stack to tumble down. ouch! hihi.
  2. put water in pail using a cup ~ oh, he was fast in this one! i like it. careful not to spill, but fast!
  3. throw little bean pouch into basket ~ he got it in in one try! well done, khaleef!
  4. walk with ping pong ball in spoon ~ most kids either walked super slow to not drop it, or hold it ALL the way, which is cheating! hahaha. khaleef tried to do his best, and he only held on to the ping pong ball as he reached his teammate. hihi.

 

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 go green team! ashton, khaleef, keille, joanna & zainab

speaking of teammates, khaleef is teamed up with his best friends ashton (the indian kid standing behind him), and the super-cute keille (pronounced ‘kill’, from the philippines). he always mentioned the names of these two classmates, and that day i finally got to meet them. *smile*

in fact, khaleef looked so at ease with keille *wink wink*. haha, so cute lah to see them together!

 

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they even held hands while waiting for a game to start. hihi. (tapi mamat team kuning tu macam tak puas hati je dengan khaleef! hihi)

 

* * *

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 khaleef with his medal

 

at the end of the day, everyone left a winner, with a ‘gold’ medal each. noone felt bad that they didn’t do well, and noone felt left out without a bigger present or anything. they’re just a bunch of 3-4-5 year olds please! it’s all about FUN!

 

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my sister-in-law, mr.khairul and i seemed to be the only ones cheering on our side of the field. really. we were shouting and cheering and supporting like desperate cheerleaders on auditions! mr. khairul even remarked how sorry he was for the mommies next to us – kesian, sure suara kitorang jerit-jerit termasuk dalam video diorang! hihi.

all in all – we had super FUN!

the games were fun and easy for the kids, the teachers organized the students really well because everyone waited for their turn in an orderly manner, and the transitions between classes to the four ‘game stations’ were made smoothly. kudos to the teachers of foundation stage 2!

till next sports day!

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Cable Car in Creek Park, Dubai

there’s a cable car ride in dubai? i didn’t know that!

we passed by dubai court, and saw the long cable, and then cable cars passing by. we figured out the source, and headed on to creek park, the second largest park in dubai. take the entrance near the children’s city.

you must first pay 5aed each to go INSIDE the creek park, and then go find the cable car station. if you want to see the dubai creek at bird’s eye-view, this cable car ride is for you!

 

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khaleef climbing onto the cable car

 

there’s a playground right beside the cable car station, and we let khaleef and kahfi to monkey around for awhile before the ride.

 

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behind kazim is the cable car station

 

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 my sister-in-law teh getting read to ride the cable car

 

for the length of 2.3 kilometers and 30 minutes for ride, dubai cable car is a decent ride. pay 10aed for children, and 25aed for adults.

these cable cars can accommodate four passengers at a time, so better come in groups, unless you don’t mind sharing with strangers. kalau nak berdating berdua romantik-romantik pun kena share with another couple tau! hihi.

 

 

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where we waited for the cable car

 

in all the write-up that i found on the net mentioned that there are three stations where passengers can alight, and be picked up. in truth, only the middle station is operational – meaning, you go in and out from the cable car ONLY in this station.

the other two stations on the left and right are only for u-turns! no operator is seen, and the cable car just made a turn and go back to the middle station, before going to the opposite side, and back again to the middle.

 

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brothers khaleef and kahfi having a fun time on the cable car

 

why dubai cable car is pretty OKAY

  • the ride is long enough to make your 25aed worthwhile
  • nice to just enjoy some quiet time with family
  • an extra thing to do while in the park
  • you can appreciate the nice view of the creek and the skyline of old dubai beyond the creek
  • this depends on your preference – but just to add that the cable car is not TOO high up – about 25-30m above the ground – as compared to the one in our genting highland! so it’s not too scary ok
  • the ride is also not too fast, and it actually stops in the highest point of the cable, for us to soak in all the view

 

 

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 me and mr cookie

 

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don’t expect a WOW view, because it’s not too high up – but the view is still lovely enough.

  • the dubai creek of course
  • the creek shore line
  • little abras (arab boats); some with uae flag
  • lots of seagulls resting on the waters like little white droplets
  • the greens of the creek park
  • the wonderland
  • the floating bridge crossing the creek, connecting deira and bur dubai
  • you can even see burj khalifa at a distance

 

 

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 the view is not a big WOW, but still a little wow hihi

 

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funny thing was we only noticed this little notice of do’s and don’ts AFTER having done #3, #5 and #6!

3) don’t exchange places of sitting – but we kept changing seats to get the view of both sides of the cable car!

5) don’t stand inside the compartment – well, you need to stand up to change seats, don’t you! hihi

6) don’t place hands outside compartment windows – this is just a second, just to feel the air outside the cable car, no biggie ok!

 

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* * *

 

where – creek park, dubai

how much – 5aed to enter park, 10aed for children & 25aed for adults

when - daily, 8am-11pm; (summer : 5pm-10pm)

*on wed: women only

 

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my sis-in-law teh, khaleef, me, kahfi & kazim with woody woodpecker at the park

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Erupt in Egypt : Syukur My Sis-in-law in Dubai!

what’s the conflict?

president of egypt is hosni mubarak. the 82-year old dude has been in power for 30 years. The problem is, the people of egypt does not want mubarak. but mubarak stubbornly wants to cling to power. even after 4 days of violent protest, dengan selambanya he announced sacking of cabinet ministers, but showing NO reaction or action the what the people really want – for him to step down!

"It was never about the government, by God. It is you (Mubarak) who has to go! What you have done to the people is enough!" said one protester.

source : gulfnews.

result?

  • peaceful demonstration that turned ugly
  • 150 people killed, more wounded
  • police station burnt
  • soldiers roamed the streets
  • curfew set, but defied when people still go out
  • looting – youth gangs break into luxury houses, supermarkets since police have disappeared!
  • some even went as far as trying to steal the valuable artefacts inside the cairo museum; including the golden mask of king tut. luckily some young egyptians managed to barricade the compound, and saved their heritage from these opportunist-looters
  • internet connection was blocked, and phone lines cut. i read in one blog that a family tried for more than 2 days to contact a loved one but failed ~ i hope our malaysian brothers and sisters are safe!
  • thousands prisoners escaped from prison
  • 19 private jets carrying wealthy egyptians and arab businessmen have fled with their money. destination? katanya dubai!

 

i was watching the LIVE coverage by al-jazeera on this devastating conflict – the angry citizens of egypt like ants at tahrir square cairo, walking here and there despite the curfew stated. kalau ade curfew tapi keluar jugak, bukan kena tembak ke? but i guess they didn’t come up 8-10 people – more of hundreds and thousands. who’s gonna shoot them then?

i have to admit, i’m following this conflict closely more so because my sister in law is currently doing dentistry in al-azhar university. alhamdulillah she’s NOT there right now, she’s right here in dubai, spending winter holiday with her brother and nephews.

at the time of writing, everyone is advising her to stay put, and not go back to egypt until this matter blows over. she’s thankful of course that her brother managed to have the foresight to bring her here, but she’s still very worried about the fate of her friends over in cairo.

harap semuanya selamat, insyaAllah.

* * *

this uproar in egypt is said to be inspired from the civilian’s overthrow of tunisia’s president not to long ago. i hope this is not a wave that will catch on to a few more countries!

in the meantime, khaleef, kahfi and kazim will have their ateh for more weeks than they expect!

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Bait Al-Mandi @ Al-Barsha : Romantic!

never would i thought that eating a wholesome, meaty meal such as mandi rice would be a romantic thing. but if you go to the mandi restaurant ‘bait al-mandi’ or ‘house of mandi’ in al-barsha, the ambiance certainly suggest romance in the air!

it’s in the color scheme, i guess!

 

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step into ‘bait al-mandi’ and you see rows of booth-seats left and right, and few tables and chairs in the middle. looking up, you’ll see a row of raspberry-red chandeliers gracing the ceiling painted in bold maroon.

it doesn’t look close to any middle-east restaurant that we’ve been to!

for starters, there were no majlis – the arabic seating area with carpets and pillow-cushions. instead of thick arabian-fabric curtains, there were plain white blinds. instead of wooden divider separating the seats, there were white panels with opaque glass.

ni middle-east mandi restaurant ke, or french diner ni! hihi.

 

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i’m having a déjà vu feeling.

we ordered our usual; lamb mandi and chicken mandi. (see. déjà vu! i feel that i’ve repeated this sentence over and over again! haha.)

 

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lamb mandi ~ one of the juiciest we’ve ever gotten

 

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chicken mandi ~ delicious as ever

 

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this time, we also tried grilled chicken mandi ~ a fantastic choice! suddenly this is even better than the normal chicken mandi! grilled to perfection, with its spices and not too much blackened bits. memang sedap gile, to the point that i told mr. khairul, we should just order the grilled chicken mandi every time we come!

 

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the usual – a plate of cut-up veggies, and small bowl of their in-house chilli gravy. however at bait al-mandi, you also get a free yoghurt! this is not really a plus-point for me, because i don’t like yoghurt. i LOVE frozen yoghurt though! hihi.

we’ve been here 3 times already, and yang tak bestnye is that the veggie plate is not consistent – sometimes it comes with the leaves (ulam), cucumber and onions – but sometimes they put salad instead of the ulam.

i want the ulam!

 

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khaleef with his ateh

 

we brought teh (mr. khairul’s younger sister) here for the yummy mandi in dubai this time around. she’s been here before, way back during my pantang after delivering kahfi. two years after, now she’s back in dubai for her winter holiday from classes in cairo.

future dentist ni, insyaAllah!

 

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‘bait al-mandi’ is situated in al-barsha, very near the mall of emirates.

there’s even a fairly large clearing right beside the restaurant, and you can easily park there.

 

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Saturday, January 22, 2011

First Shower in Dubai for 2011

it finally rained in dubai!

well, actually there was a drizzle of rain one morning as i sent khaleef to his school bus, but that doesn’t really count because it’s just for few minutes and it’s just drizzling.

but that day – it REALLY rained. cats and dogs and camels!

 

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 kahfi : mongolian sesat? haha

 

it was a weekend, and we were heading towards mall of emirates when it rained. and when we walked out, it was still raining – heavily. and from noon till the middle of the night, the rain did not look like it’s subsiding.

as usual, when it rains, certain parts of dubai will SURELY be flooded. dubai takde sistem perparitan tau! since they only receive rain about few days a year!

 

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khaleef with his ateh

 

alhamdulillah, it was a smooth ride for us all the way from the mall to our home. it can be dangerous driving in dubai on a rainy day – because most of the locals are not used to driving on wet, slippery roads thus may be inept compared to normal days.

* * *

if you notice, there’s a new addition to our family starting last week. on the day we sent abah and umi to the airport for their flight back to malaysia, mr. khairul’s sister arrived from cairo, egypt. she’s spending her winter holiday here, and i’m sure look forward to have countless slumber parties with her nephews.

me? i’m counting the days when i can finally go out shopping by myself or watching movies at the cinema while leaving the kiddos with this bibik from cairo…

Friday, January 21, 2011

Bye Abah! Thanks Umi!

:(

at the time of writing, abah and umi had flown back to malaysia after just 10 days hanging out at dubai marina. we didn’t jalan-jalan dubai that much, because abah just wanted to spend a super-leisurely time with his grandsons khaleef, kahfi and kazim.

besides, he’s been here more than 4 times already – so he knows what it’s about! hihi.

 

 

thanks to mr. khairul for being the designated driver, and treating abah for few delicious makan-makan around dubai.

thanks to umi, for bringing all those helpful kitchen stuff, which includes the highly anticipated keropok ikan, and tat nenas!

thanks to abah, for many simple lunch treats – simple because every now and then abah would just buy kfc, or pizza and brought it to our home for a lepak lunch (abah penat malas nak keluar for makan-makan la tu hihi) – and for coming over to spend time with us.

there’s already talk (yay!) about abah bringing over the rest of my sisters and their family over to dubai – maybe end of 2011, or around this time 2012? insyaAllah!

* * *

your dubai grandsons are already missing you, atok!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Dubai Global Village With Abah

every winter, i will always look forward to this ‘festive’ event – the dubai global village, opens only in november to february yearly, 4pm to 12 midnight daily.

some malaysians living in dubai once told me that it’s a boring place; same old stuff year in year out – but i thoroughly enjoyed it. been here for 3 years, and countless times, and still found excitement every time i go.

what is it?

imagine all the countries you could visit in the world, and seeing the unique things that those countries may offer – their culture, the souvenirs that you might buy from those countries, the food that you might taste – that’s ‘dubai global village’.

click here to read about my first visit to the dubai global village.

 

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abah & umi at the entrance

 

there are a few entrance gates into dubai gobal village, so if you decided to break from your group, make sure you know which gate you’re meeting up after. remember, dubai global village is a HUGE place!

there are so many pavilions – this is what they call the huge square buildings with country’s name on them. and in each pavilion there are more than 20 stalls selling items from their respective countries.

not only that, there is a funfair section with a roller-coaster, a ferris wheel and other fun rides. there are a few rows of ‘restaurants’ and ‘cafes’ – including kfc, pizza hut and many small stalls selling traditional dishes or tidbits from different countries. there are more than one big stage for the cultural shows. there’s a man-made river that flows along the pavilions.

click the map below for a bigger version.

 

 

GET A WRIST BAND!

tickets are 10dhs per person. make sure you get a wrist band for your kids where you can write his/your name, with a contact number in case the unimaginable happen.

 

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OUR FAVORITE PAVILION

since there are SO MANY pavilions, and we’re walking with abah and umi yang tak larat nak jalan jauh-jauh lama-lama, so we pick and choose – and brought them to our favorite and must-go pavilions.

YEMEN : for their honey

TURKEY : for the kacang-kacang

AFRICA : i love looking at the stuff they’re selling!

and of course, MALAYSIA : just to see what *we* are selling, and whether it’s MALAYSIAN enough!

 

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yes, we went to MALAYSIA pavillion, unfortunately my friend fida didn’t open a stall that day; she usually opens a stall every weekend selling her delicious home-cooked dishes like nasi tomato, noodle dishes and her kuih-kuih melayu. keciwa~

the closest thing to ‘malaysia’ was this stall selling kicap tamin, kuah rojak and kaya in a tin. oh, and another stall selling fresh sugarcane drink for 10dhs a glass!

 

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YEMEN PAVILION : HONEY!

yemen pavillion, a must-go for the honey! we went to the same stall, because there are SO MANY stalls in there that sells honey. better go to the ones we know will give good price and the same friendly service!

we bought 2 small containers, and umi bought one. click here to read about our love-at-first-taste with honey yemen at the dubai global village.

 

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TURKEY PAVILION : ICE-CREAM!

the first thing you see when you enter TURKEY pavilion, is this little ice-cream stall with the tag, ‘real turkish ice-cream’. there were only three flavors – vanilla, hazelnut, and pistachio. i took pistachio and khaleef wanted vanilla.

 

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my pistachio ice-cream was absolutely yummy. chunks of pistachio enveloped in that cool creamy indulgence – heavenly!

 

* * *

LOCAL DESSERT BY BEDUOIN LADIES

we came early (when it’s still bright) and wanted to return home in time for dinner. so we didn’t get to catch any cultural shows which usually start at night.

what we did get was a local dessert sold by (i think) beduoin ladies. they sat on the floor cross-legged in a tent, equipped with hot boiling oil in huge wok to fry their dishes. this one that we went to was just beside the INDIA pavilion.

 

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this one that we bought actually tasted like our cakoi, only they’re round in shape while our malaysian cakoi is shaped long. also, we eat cakoi with durian gravy or kaya, but this dessert was served with a sweet, sticky liquid that looks like honey, but tasted quite different. i don’t know what it is, but it’s sweet!

memang totally delicious eaten warm and fresh from the wok, soft on the inside and crispy on the outside – tambah-tambah cuaca tengah sejuk!

 

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at the time of writing, abah and umi had already gone back to malaysia, and we’re currently harbouring a *fugitive* from cairo! haha. mr. khairul’s younger sister is here in dubai spending her winter holiday. will definitely bring her to dubai global village as well.

28th february is the last day to visit dubai global village so hurry on!

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